Chris Riley at his election party in 2009. The former Council member, Downtown advocate, and urbanist thought leader in Austin died Sunday, aged 60, from cancer. (Photo by John Anderson)
Friends and colleagues are mourning the death at age 60 of Chris Riley, former Council member and unwavering advocate for smart development in Austin, as they celebrate the life of a man dedicated to improving the city he loved.
Born and raised in Austin, Riley seemed on the fast track to the national stage after interning for Congressman Jake Pickle and graduating from Harvard. He returned to Austin instead, becoming an advocate for Downtown before its ongoing boom, when it was still little more than a few offices, a few condos, a few bars, and a few dilapidated warehouses. After chairing the Downtown Commission and the Planning Commission and founding the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, he made the jump to Council in 2007, beating fellow former Planning Commissioner Perla Cavazos in a landslide for Council Place 1. In a sign of his roots in “old Austin,” Riley launched his campaign at Threadgill’s. But, unlike many of his peers who were driving so much of Austin’s development strategy, Riley did not subscribe to the “if you don’t build it, they won’t come” philosophy that created so many of the infrastructure issues that the city faces today. This wasn’t always a popular position, and contributed to his exit from Council five years later, when he withdrew from a run-off with Kathie Tovo for the newly created District 9.
During his time in office, Riley was never afraid to embrace big ideas, such as supporting comprehensive land development code changes through Imagine Austin and advocacy for public transit. Yet he was also an advocate for seemingly small ideas that had big impacts on people’s lives, like making it easier to build accessibility ramps on houses and duplexes, early advocacy for Accessory Dwelling Units, and co-founding the Pedestrian Advisory Council to help guide policy and investment on Austin’s notoriously shameful patchwork of sidewalks. He often worked on seemingly unwinnable or forgotten causes: Without Riley, the Shoal Creek Trail would be incomplete, as he lobbied for the stretch between West Avenue and Fifth Street to be reopened after decades of abandonment. (Suitably, that section is now called Chris Riley Bend.)
Moreover, Riley remained determined that the increasing Downtown population should be recognized as Austin residents, no matter the ZIP code. The underlying tensions between the old neighborhoods and Downtown came to a head in 2017 when the executive committee of the Austin Neighborhood Council (which held outsize sway over Council) barred the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association’s membership by applying an unprecedented policy purity test to the group. Riley, then DANA president, expressed his trademark dedication to diplomacy throughout the entire situation but remained steadfast in his commitment to ensuring the unique neighborhood was recognized as such. After all, it has special concerns such as sound bleed from music venues that affect it more than any other area. Yet he looked beyond his own neighborhood, constantly advocating in and out of office for policies that would create a more connected and livable city. He even stayed involved with groups like Reconnect Austin, with its push to make I-35 less of a scar through the city, long after he was diagnosed with cancer.
The key to understanding Riley may be that he always saw Austin from his beloved bicycle. There was never a sense that he took a thousand-foot view of development, as is so often a problem in big planning. Instead, he concentrated on how little changes can have big impacts, and big changes must relate to whatever was already there. His policies were often bizarrely controversial yet have become the norm. However, it’s impossible to imagine that he would gloat or say “I told you so,” as one defining aspect of the man that everyone agreed upon was his undiminishable kindness and dedication to the entire community.
Since his death on Sunday, tributes have flowed in, including from Rep. Sheryl Cole, D-Austin, who served alongside Riley on Council. She wrote, “My heart breaks to hear that my dear friend and former colleague Chris Riley has left this earth. I’ll remain forever grateful for those years of friendship and our work on the Austin City Council.”
His former electoral opponent, Kathie Tovo, echoed those sentiments, stating that Riley “was a dedicated and passionate public servant, and Austin is a better place because of his work, on and off the dais. Rest in peace, colleague. We’ll miss you.”
His loss is deeply felt among the urbanist community he helped build and mentor. Development advocate Melissa Beeler called him “the Father of Austin Urbanism,” while public transit advocate and former Safe Streets Austin board member Adam Greenfield called Riley “a friend, mentor, role model, and an inspiration [whose] vision for Austin was clear and his commitment unwavering, right up until the very end. He cared more about the vision and about others than he did himself.” Similarly, Safe Streets Austin posted that “Chris’s life work has become part of Austin’s DNA. He has changed the city forever,” while Reconnect Austin simply tweeted that “his impact on each of us and our work will remain.”